Electric light socket provided with conductor insulation piercing contacts



Dec. 20, 1955 H LAGIN 2,728,059

ELECTRIC LIGHT SOCKET PROVIDED WITH CONDUCTOR INSULATION PIERCINGCONTACTS Filed Aug. 21, 1951 INVEN TOR. HERBERT LAGIN ATTORNEY 2,728,059Patented Dec. 20, 1955 ELECTRIC LIGHT SOCKET PROVIDED WITH CON- DUCTORINSULATION PIERCING CONTACTS Herbert Lagin, New York, N. Y. ApplicationAugust 21, 1951, Serial No. 242,865 2 Claims. (Cl. 339-97) The presentinvention relates to an electric light socket and more particularly tothe type used in the assembly of electric lamps and light fixtures ofall types.

on October 19, 1948.

In these two patents, I have illustrated wire retaining prong.

oftentimes were soldered together.

The present invention contemplates in general the pro- The prongs hereconcerned with in one form are preferably made from a single memberfolded over upon itself to form two integral spaced elements betweenwhich the wire for the lamp is held as is illustrated in Pat. No.2,427,464.

contact with the electrical wire upon inserting the prong in the base ofthe socket without the necessity first of stripping oil the insulationor soldering the wire to the contact with the prongs of the socketwithout requiring that insulation be stripped off the wire or that it besoldered to the prong, thereby decreasing the costs of socket assemblyand reducing the time required therefor.

The wire holding and insulation cutting means here contemplated, areformed by the material constituting the prong itself, which material isforced or dished out as by a conventional stamping operation.

The present invention still further contemplates the provision of anelectric socket in which the prong is formed sembled together.

These, other and further objects and advantages of the present inventionwill be clear from the description which follows and the drawingappended thereto in which Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation through asocket embody- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a form of wire retainingprong according to my invention and broken to reduce the size of thedrawing, showing a wire held thereby Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation ofa modification of a socket according to my invention Fig. 4 is aperspective view, broken to reduce the size of the drawing, of amodified form of a wire retaining prong, according to my invention, andshowing a wire held thereby Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a furthermodification of a wire retaining prong according to my invention, brokento reduce the size of the drawing and showing a wire held thereby.

Similar elements throughout the drawing are referred to by the samereference characters.

The wire retaining prongs 22 and 24 are formed from a resilient electncitself to form a base by means of which the prong is cutting elements 34and 36.

e switch compartment 38 is open at the bottom to receive the rotatableswitch member 40 secured on the shaft 42.

The shaft 42 is carried on the support 44 which with the base 46 of theresilient electrode 48 is secured to the upper wall 50 of the skirtmember 18 by the contact stud 52.

The top of the switch compartment body 16 is closed by the wall 54 whichis slotted to receive the prongs 22 and 24 when they are inserted intothe body 16 to assemble the socket, as will be described.

To assemble the socket, the cable 14 is inserted through the threadedopening of the cap 10 and spliced to form the two wires 56 and 58.

Referring now to Fig.

will be contacted by the metallic base of the lamp which is insertedinto the socket.

The wire holding element'30 (see Fig. 2) is punched w to a m the sn r-li re ho d g membe 60. and he menin es; and 4- The other wire cuttingelement 34 is to form the inwardly extending sharp andfifi.

I opera ion th wire. 56., it in understood a h same operation applies tothe wire 58, is inserted in the opening between the strap 60 and theelement 30, where t is re a vel h y e d,

The prongs 22 and 24 are inserted in the slots in the ppe Wall 50 h y fr ng th emea r3 andi t a d t e e emen 30 n 3 r in the s rp pointe teeth66,and 68 through the insulation of the wire against it thereby insuringgood electrical contact without requiring the insulat'on to be strippedofi. This also serves to eliminate any possible requirement of solderingas does the holding strap60.

To close a circuit through the lamp, the switch member 40 is rotated, bymeans of the conventional button (not shownlto force the resilientelectrode 48 into contact with the prong 22, the circuit being completedthrough the prong 24 and the base of the lamp.

It will be noted that in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, the wireis positioned on the inside of the prong and the contact made on eitherside of the strap member'60,th0ugh it will of course be recognized thatonly one cutting tooth need be provided. 7

In Fig. 5, I have illustrated a modification of a wire retaining prongin which the wire 56 appears on the outside of a wire holding element70. The element 70 is punched outwardly to form the strap member 72, inwhich the wire is inserted, and the other wire cutting element 74 ispunched inwardly to form the insulation cutting knife-like member 76.

Thus, when the prongs are ing slots in the upper wall 50, the knife-likemember 76 is forced into the insulation to thereby make ,contact withthe wire and may pass into the corresponding opening 78 remaining afterthe strap 72 is-punched out.

Referring now to Fig. 3, I have there illustrated an electric socket foruse with the so-called butterfly switch by means of which any selectedone of three light intensities, for example, 50 watts, 100 watts and 150watts, may be utilized and in which socket the r-modification of prongillustrated in Fig. 4 is used, though it will be under.- stood that themodifications illustrated in Figs. 2 and may be used as well.

It will also be understood that the prong illustrate'din Fig. 4'may, ifdesired, also be used in the socketillustrated in Fig. l modified toaccommodate that pron The socket illustrated in Fig. 3 may be'used witha special three intensity lamp, such as the General Electric Three-Litelamp.

A lamp of'this kind is composed of two filaments and internally wired sothat current passing through one filament will provide a 50 watt light,current passing through another filament a 100 watt light and currentpassing concurrently through both filaments will provide a 150 wattlamp, although a lamp having three different intensities of light may beutilized.

The switch by means of which either one or both'of the filaments'may beconnected in the circuit is conventional andis sometimes referred to asa butterfly switch. Only. so much of its construction as is required foran understanding of my invention will be here described,

The cap 10 (see Fig. 3) is slotted ,or recessed to receivethestraightunbent prong members 80 and 82, one being illustratedin Fig.4.

h switch co p t ent body also punched out pointed teeth v66 inserted inthe correspond- 16 is providedwith lonci a p ne emb receiv ng. cha s anth he switchconrpartp entjg, which is open at the bottomand v 4 providedwith the upper slotted compartment closing wall 50.

The upper wall 54 of the skirt member 13 carries the resilient electrode84 and the support 86 which are riveted to it by the contact stud 88,the shaft 90 being carried by the support.

The prong member 82 is. provided with the pin or finfier 91 on which iscarried the resilient electrode 92 and which electrode is'held thereonby the four starred or butterfly switch member 94.

The upper wall ,50 is recessed to have frictionally mounted therein thecontact member 96 which passes through the wall 54 into the interior ofthe shirt member 18 where it may be contacted by the base of the lampinserted in the socket.

The contact member 96 is provided with the pin or finger 5 5 on which iscarried the resilient electrode 97 which is also held on the pin orfinger by the pressure placed upon it by a contacting finger of the starshaped or butterfly switch member 94.

The prong member 80 is larger than the prong member 82 and extendsthrough the wall 54 into the interior of the skirt member where it willbe contacted by the base of a bulb held in the socket.

The four starred or butterfly switch member 94 is provided with thecontacts 98, 190, 102 and 164, which engage the complementary shapedelectrodes 34, 92 and 97.

Referring now to Fig. 4, each prong member 88 and 82 is punched out atthe upper part 105 to. form the wire receiving opening 108 and the orknife-like element 119.

The lower part 112 of the prong is punched out to form the catch 114.

In operation, a .wire 56 of the cable 14 is inserted in an opening 108of each of prong members db, 82, to pass through the same to the otherside of said prong members, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing.These prong members 80 and 82 are then forced into the correspondingslots and channel in the switch compartment body. The tooth orknife-like element 110 is thereby forced into the insulation to cut itand make contact with the wire.

The body 16 is recessed at 116 and 118 to form shoulders under which thecatches on the lower part 112 of the prong members 80 and 82 pass byreason of the inherent resiliency or spring-like characteristic of thematerial from which all of the prongs are made.

twill be understood that the prong members 30 and 82 are made of aresilient current conducting materialso that as a prong is forced into acorresponding channel, the catch 114 is pressed into the opening 12 topermit the prong to be inserted. As the catch 114 is brought intoalignment with a recess 116 or 113, the cat-ch because of the resilienceof the material will spring away from the opening under the shoulderformed by the recess to thus lock the prong in place.

It will thus be recognized that the unbent or raight prong servesmembers S9 and 82 three purposes, namely, to hold the wire in position,provide an insulation cutting and wire contacting means and a pronglocking catch to hold the body member 16 to the cap 10.

It will also be recognized that l have provided a socket prong by meansof which the wire -ior the electric light is held in place and whichprong has provided an insulation cutting and wire contacting means whichisforced against the wire through its insulation upon insertion of theprong into-the socket.

It will be further recognized that with the so ket just described, therequirement of stripping insulation the lamp wire and soldering it tothe prongs of the socket,

is dispensed with though a satisfactory strong contact is provided wirecutting recntrant tooth ited only by the scope of the appended claims inview of the prior art. I claim: 1. An electric light socket comprising abody member adapted to fit one end a pair of prongs attached to saidsurface of the cap and traversing said recess and adapted to pass intosaid parallel slots; each of said prongs being formed with 'aperforation one edge of which is in the form of a reentrant pointedknife element; insulated Wires passing through an aperture in said cap;the strands of said Wires entering said recess and respectively passingthrough said perforations at one side of said prongs to the other sidebody member;

6 of said prongs; said prongs with said strands being forced into saidslots so that the knife elements pierce through the insulation of saidwires and make electric contact therewith.

2. An electric light socket as defined in claim 1, in which said bodymember is formed with interior shoulders adjacent said slots engagingresilient offset lug elements projecting from said prongs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,012,627 Gilbert Aug. 27, 1935 2,181,576 Chirelstein Nov. 28, 19392,301,919 Petry Nov. 17, 1942 2,309,311 Grohsgal Jan. 26, 1943 2,451,680Lagin Oct. 19, 1948

